My Year 1 mini-unit for basic position ideas (still under development)
At my school in 2011 we used the Go Maths program to teach Maths. This meant I tended to teach in small chunks for each topic, with a thread of number sense running throughout. This gives a very rough outline of the sequence of lessons for teaching position and movement, roughly a week of lessons.
Discuss language of position and movement - up, down, left, right, forwards, backwards, under, over. Elicit suggestions from the students. I noted that many of them are opposites, to which they promptly pointed out some others like next to, and through. Play "Simon Says" and perform formative assessment of which/how many students know their left from their right. Teach students your favourite techniques for remembering left and right, e.g. holding up their left hand to make an L, writing it on their shoes, remembering which hand they write with, etc.
Draw grid on whiteboard and create a track through the grid by following instructions such as "Up 1, Left 2, Down 4". Go outside with chalk and have the students create a giant set of tracks and grids on courtyard (ours already had hopscotch and handball grids that made it easier). Play a variant of "Simon Says" where students move around the squares, and follow instructions like "Forward 3, Turn right, backwards 6" etc.
Model another track on a grid on the whiteboard, then ask students to complete a worksheet with a similar format. Review their understanding as a group after the worksheet is completed.
Draw a plan of the classroom/school - a "bird's eye view". Write instructions for how to get from the classroom to some other nominated place. Test your instructions on another student before asking the teacher to check them. I usually make this the culmination of a mini-unit, and it can take up to two short sessions for some students to successfully write instructions for navigating through the classroom (normally made more complex due to desks and other furniture being in the way)
Location and Transformation
Online Games and Activities
Symmetry
I found this interesting Math Craft web site and these instructions for making paper snowflakes, which are beautiful examples of 2D objects with multiple lines of symmetry.My Year 1 mini-unit for basic position ideas (still under development)
At my school in 2011 we used the Go Maths program to teach Maths. This meant I tended to teach in small chunks for each topic, with a thread of number sense running throughout. This gives a very rough outline of the sequence of lessons for teaching position and movement, roughly a week of lessons.